The Worst of Agricultural Aviation, an Accident

by Martin Porto

As a pilot, I try not to be reactive. I try to anticipate the plane and I also try to apply that to my personal life. But when catastrophic events occur, the human instinct for self-preservation always prevails and the “reactionary man” comes out.

Obstacles, enemies of the ag-pilot.

The great philosopher and thinker, Viktor Frankl, speaking on the meaning of life said, “An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.” That was what motivated me to write this article, “my reactionary man.”

The worst thing about aviation is an accident. Until it happens, until a colleague is taken, until it happens to us, it is something abstract. But, accidents are undoubtedly the worst thing in aviation.

One morning this year, I received news that an agricultural pilot had been killed. I did not know the pilot, but he worked at a friend’s company. I immediately set out to learn more and with each message I received, more and more my heart ached. The friend who informed me said the pilot had been drinking mate (South American tea) with him that morning. The pilot took off and due to smoke from fires in the region, he did not see a cell phone antenna. He hit it and crashed just 100 meters from his house.

No one doubts the world depends on antennas, a technology that helps us and used well, it facilitates man’s life. For us agricultural pilots, apart from being a help, antennas are a danger.

While it is true antennas must be marked by paint, strobes and other means of distinction, from a pilot’s perspective, all these aids often mean nothing and it is as if they did not exist.

Whether you see them or not depends on factors such as a dirty windshield, haze, smoke, distractions in the cockpit and sunlight. Each of these factors are present everyday in the work of an agricultural pilot.

As a general rule, agricultural pilots fly in the same, general geographical area. There are exceptions. So the most important thing, even if we are not from that area, is we must know the area through aids such as maps and by asking local pilots.

Using on-board technology to our advantage, most DGPS (Differential Global Position System) systems used by agricultural aircraft today have a function that allows the pilot to load the position of an obstacle simply by pressing a key. Then, when the distance between the aircraft and the obstacle is within the alert time, GPS units like the AgNav will give a warning to the pilot on the light bar and screen to get their attention. The file can be downloaded and shared.

Create a database of obstacles and share it. Safety should transcend competition and as pilots / operators we should be generous to our colleagues by sharing this information. The FAA makes available to pilots the Digital Obstacle File (DOF) and it is updated every 56 days. The file describes all known obstacles to aviation users in the United States, with limited coverage of the Pacific, the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico . We should be proactive and help our South American aviation authorities by showing them an example from the FAA’s DOF.

Before starting an application, check the area. Identifying obstacles should be the main item to control. Define escape routes and how to deal with any obstacles. With a loaded plane, it is often not easy to escape obstacles.

For ferry flights, since most antennas don’t exceed 500 feet, why make a ferry flight under 500 AGL? It should be clear from the operators’ procedural manuals that ferry flights should be made at a safe height even with the aircraft loaded.

These simple tips (from an old ag-pilot) won’t bring Everton (the name of the pilot) back to life, but they can help other colleagues avoid the worst in aviation, an accident.

It seems like a cliché and non-aviation people are often struck by the fact that when a colleague is about to start a flight we always say, “have a good flight”. It is not a cliché. It is an expression of the heart’s desire. I would simply add “Have a good flight and may you return safe and sound.”

Martin da Costa Porto is a Uruguayan agricultural pilot and agricultural flight instructor. He has over 25 years and more than 11,000 hours of agricultural flight experience and 3,000 hours of flight instruction. He currently flies an AT-402B turboprop Air Tractor in Uruguay. mporto1@gmail.com